Hawker Siddeley Vulcan B2

Overview

The Vulcan was one of three aircraft intended to carry the UK’s nuclear deterrent. It was designed shortly after World War II and was the world’s first delta-winged jet bomber. Initially equipped with the Yellow Sun free fall thermo nuclear bomb, and subsequently with the Blue Steel stand off bomb, the aircraft was finally equipped with the WE 177 free fall nuclear weapon. The Vulcan was in squadron service from 1957 until 1982. It was part of the UK nuclear deterrent force from 1962 until 1969.

Initially, it was intended that the Vulcan and its fellow V-bombers would evade enemy defences by flying at high level. But advances in Soviet missile technology in the 1960s meant that a low-level penetration strategy had to be adopted.

The Vulcan first saw combat in Operation Corporate (the Falklands War.) Vulcans were equipped with Shrike anti radiation missiles as well as 1000lb conventional bombs and were used to carry out attacks on Argentinean forces on the Falkland Islands.